Nanjing

Last Saturday, March 9, I went to Nanjing to meet Sophie's family; or, to be more precise, her mother, sister, and future brother-in-law.  Nanjing is the capitol of Jiangsu province.  It takes about 1 hour to get there from Wuxi via high-speed train.  Sophie's sister works as a nurse at a children's hospital in Nanjing, and her sister's fiancé has a PhD in computer science and teaches at a major university there.  Her mother was visiting from Xuzhou, which is much farther north.  Her future brother-in-law also speaks English quite well, so he acted as the family's agent when communicating with me.  I didn't take any pictures of her family.

Over lunch at a restaurant which served passable Mexican-style food, her family had a serious discussion with me about my suitability as a potential match for Sophie, and also about how to take care of Sophie's immediate health needs, which presented some problems.  We eventually came to an understanding, and exchanged contact information.

After lunch, we went out to a nice park by and around a lake.  To get there, after getting off the subway, we had to walk through the old city wall, which has three gates at this location.  To understand this, it helps to understand that the "Nan" in Nanjing means "South", the "Bei" in "Beijing" means "North", and the second character of both names is the same.  From this, it should come as no surprise that Nanjing was once the capitol of ancient China, during (I believe) the Ming dynasty.  So, this wall of the old city is historically very significant.

In the park, Sophie and I were invited to go off on our own for a while.  We went to find a place in the shade where we could sit down, because Sophie was tired and wanted to rest.  While Sophie rested, I took some pictures of what I saw. 

I saw many pleasure boats (available for rent). 

I saw a wedding-photo shoot.

I saw a motorboat being used to tow a pleasure boat (presumably back to the pier).

After a while, Sophie's sister called her, and we had to go back.  This is what Nanjing looked like from across the lake on our way back to the gate and the subway station.

I had expected to take Sophie back with me to Wuxi that day.  However, Sophie was urged to stay for one more day, and agreed to do so.  She accompanied me to the train station, where I purchased a ticket, and then we had dinner (although she didn't eat much, which is normal for her).

After dinner, I saw an interesting statue at the station, so we took some pictures there.  Sophie couldn't tell me what it was, but it looked to me like a Chinese version of a sphinx.

Prayer Requests

On Sunday, the day after my Nanjing trip, I expected Sophie to return to Wuxi, as we had agreed.  However, her family had eventually prevailed upon her (contrary to our previous agreement) to return to Xuzhou with her mother.  She says she'll come back to Wuxi when her body is healthy. I don't know when that will be.  Also, I don't know if our relationship has a real future.  So, please pray for wisdom for Sophie and I, that we would do what is best for both of us, and also honor God with our decisions.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying!